By Paulo
Salada
“The real intention of Ideya Challenge is to develop the
entrepreneurial spirit of our student, our faculty as well as our alumni.”
That was the statement of University of the Philippines (UP)
Cebu Dean Liza Corro about her flagship
project to put up an innovation lounge in the university through the Ideya
Challenge competition, being the first ever innovation competition in Metro
Cebu.
To encourage UP Cebu students, administrative
staff, and alumni to come up with ideas and business solutions, the Ideya Challenge
initiated a semester-long technology-pitching contest which started last June
21, 2013.
Ideya Challenge aims to set up an innovation
hub that will promote an innovative mindset and culture in the region, and to
make UP Cebu the forefront in producing IT-based start-ups. It also aims to generate interest in UP Cebu community in creating
business-viable solutions to problems in society or developing marketable
improvements to existing IT-based tools, products and services.
For a
team to qualify in the competition, it should have three members with at least
one who is knowledgeable in the field of computer science or information technology.
Every team should also choose one teacher to be their adviser. Teams which will
qualify to the next rounds of the competition will be mentored to further
improve their proposals. Proposals will be judged according to the soundness of
the project, business viability, and social impact.
“We joined the Ideya Challenge because we believe that our
idea has the capacity to help the economy of the Philippines and we believe
that our studies are beneficial to our people,” said Jay Arnel Bilocura, a
computer science student and a member of Find, Eat and Go!, one of the teams that had qualified in the semi-finals
of the competition.
Competing with Team Find, Eat and Go! in the semi-finals is
Team Raters with their proposal about online scholarship lists which will be
convenient for students in applying for scholarships. Team Raters is composed
of three computer science students namely Iona Conception, Mary Louise Hermosa and
Julia Menchavez,. Conception said that this competition enables them to prepare
for their future and serves as a practice in their field of study.
“Cash will be given to the winner and starting next year,
Ideya Challenge will be an annual competition in UP Cebu,” said Daňa Marie
Perez, Ideya Challenge head and fourth year representative of the UP Cebu
student council.
The first,
second and third placers will receive Php 10,000 with two free website hosting,
Php 7,000 and Php 5,000, respectively.
The
competition is a partnership between Cebu Business Incubator in IT (CebuinIT),
UP Cebu, and the UP Cebu student council.
No comments:
Post a Comment